Heel building machine



Dec. 28, 193?. c. H. COULSON HEEL BUILDING MACHINE Filed Dec. 19, 1936 Patented Dec. 2 8, 19 37 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,103,712 HEEL BUILDING MACHINE- Charles H. Coulson, Hanover, Pa. Application December 19, 1936-,Serial No. 116,829

12 Claims.

Another, object of the invention is the provision I of a heel building machine for rapidly assembling lifts in heelform in which the heel forms are maintained in spaced relation and supported when being forced through a compression chamher so that the assembled lifts will only have sliding contact at two points in the compression chamber.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a heel building machine for rapidly assembling and compressing lifts into heel forms,

while cementing thelifts together, with a spacing and supporting chair so constructed that adjacent seats on the chairs will assume positions,

conforming to the variations in heights between the front and rear portions of the heel so that an end of each of the liftsforming the heel will abut a member on the chair thereby restricting sliding contact of the lifts to two points only in the compression chamber.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a heel building machine having a plunger head provided with an inclined surface which will cooperate with an inclined wedgeshaped plate on a chair for supporting andmaintaining the lifts in proper relation in heel form when being forced through a compression chamber.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a chair which is adapted to be forced through a compression chamber of a heel building machine for not only maintaining a plurality of heelforms composed of assembled lifts in'spaced re- 1 lation, but for guiding the heel forms through the compression chamber and for limiting sliding contact of the lifts at two points only on the surface of the compression chamber, the chairs retaining the heel forms at an'acute angle to'the 1' line of travel of said forms throughthe compression chamber, while causing the heels to be thrown outwardly away from a heel supporting plate on a chair at the end of travel of the heel.

forms through the compression chamber.

Thisinvention will be bestunderstood from a consideration of thefollowing detailed description, in-view of the accompanying drawing forming a part of the specification; nevertheless, it is to be understood that the invention isnot confined to'the disclosure, being susceptible of such 5 changes andmodifications as define no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressedzin the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary front view in eleva- 10s 1 tion of a-heel building machine constructed ac.-

cording. to the principles of my invention.

Figure 2 is a verticalsection taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Figure 3 is a viewin perspective of a chair for 15,

aiding in supporting heels and for spacing the said heels from each other when being forced through the compression chamber of the heel building machine.

Figure 41s a fragmentary vertical section of v the upper end of the heel building machine at the discharge end of the compression chamber.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, Ill designates an I beam which is secured in any approved manner to the table of the heel building machine, and which is braced so that it willbe maintained in a vertical position. This heel building machine has a flat face I I along the inner flange l2 for a purpose which will be presently explained.

A V-shaped breast plate generally indicated by 30 the numeral [3 is spaced from the flat face I I on the I beam Hlwith the flanges H! of the V facing said flat face. The breast plate l3 and the flange l2 cooperate toform what is known as a heel log container forming a compression cham ber through which the assembled lifts in the heel form are forced. After paste has been applied to the lifts this chamber has suificient length to permit substantial drying of the paste between the various lifts, so that when the assembled lifts in heel form are forced from the compression chamber the assembled lifts will be in substantially solid form to provide the heels.

In my Patent 2,029,654 is shown a mechanism for supporting the breast plate 13 in spaced relation with the I beam I0, and. this construction also provides for adjusting the position of the breast plate relative to the flange H of the I beam Ill: when it is necessary because of the 5 factthat adjustments must be made toincrease or, decrease the space to compensate for heels of various diameters. This device is shown at IS in the present case.

As shown. more particularly in Fig. 4, the

breast plate is curved at E5 towards the I beam It? at the upper end thereof, and adjacent the discharge spout !6, so that the heels, when they are released from the compressive force and also from a lateral force which will be presently described, will be discharged from the spout I6 as will likewise the chairs generally designated by the numeral H.

The spout is provided with a flange Hi which is secured to the upper end of the flange 52 of the I beam Ill. The spout has a rounded portion 20 which acts as a guide for rapidly tilting the chairs I"! when said chairs reach this point.

A reciprocating rack 2! carries a head 22 which is inclined at an angle to the flat face H of the I beam I0 upon which the lifts 23 are assembled. After the lifts have been assembled, jaws 24 are moved into operative relation with the sides of the lifts for maintaining them in position on the head 22. The jaws 24 and the rack 2| form no part of the present invention since they are described and claimed in my patent noted above.

The chair generally designated by the numeral l7 includes a seat 25 which is wedgeshaped and as is shown in Fig. 2, these wedgeshaped plates compensate for the variations in heights between the front and rear portions of the heels. The front end of the plate which is thinner than the rear end is tapered as shown at 26 so that it will fit within the V-shaped breast plate I3, but its side edges will be maintained out of contact with the inner faces of the breast plate l3, because this tapered end has slightly less dimensions than the surface area of the heels engaged by the seat.

The thicker end of the plate or seat 25 is provided with a recess 30 which is adapted toreceive the tapered end 3! of an arm 32 which depends from the under surface of the plate 25 and inwardly of the rear end of said plate. As a matter of fact, the outer surface of the arm 32 lies flush with the wall 33 of the recess 39.

By forming the recess in the rear end of the plate, a pair of ears 34 are provided and the free ends of these cars as shown at 35 are sheared off so that they will neatly engage the flat sur face H of the flange E2 of the I beam H3.

The lower tapered or free end of the arm 32 is likewise sheared off as shown at 36, at an angle, so that the bevelled portion 36 of the arm will also he in flat contact with the flat surface H on the I beam I0. Thus, when the chair moves through the compression chamber the beveled ends 35 of the cars 35 and the bevelled ends 36 of arm 32 will lie in substantially the same vertical plane. It will be appreciated, however, that if the I beam is placed in a horizontal position, that the beveled portions 35 and 38 of the chair will lie in a horizontal plane, and in sliding contact with the flat surface H of the I beam ill. It is unimportant whether the I beam is in a vertical or horizontal position, or in any intermediate position. The plane passing through the bevelled ends 35 and 3B of the chair will lie in substantially the same plane of the surface I l. a

From an inspection of Fig. 2 it will be seen that the lifts which have been assembled in heel form after they have been forced into the compression chamber of the heel building machine, will be held in place by the frictional contact between the outer ends of the lifts at 2 points on the inclined side walls of the breast plate l3, and by the frictional contact between the beveled ends 35 and 36 of the chairs I! on the flat surface H of the I beam Ill. All of the lifts will be tilted at an angle to the vertical or to the flat surface H, while a lateral force is exerted on the lifts by the proper position of the breast plate l3 so that the outer ends of the lifts will be forced into snug engagement with the inner face of the arms 32 of the chair ll.

In the operation of my device the lifts are assembled on the table or head piece 22 at the upper end of the rack 2! which is adapted to be reciprocated by a mechanism not disclosed, but which has been described and claimed in my patent supra. The chair, after the jaws 24 are positioned in clamping relation against the assembled lifts, is placed over the lifts, as shown in Fig. 2, with the arm 32 in engagement with the adjacent ends of said lifts.

The rack 21 is then reciprocated, forcing the head and the assembled lifts and the chair I! into the compression chamber formed by the breast plate !3 and the flange l2 against the lower heel form 40 and the force is sufficient to move all of the heel forms together with the separating chairs further into the compression chamber so that the side edges of the lifts 23 of the heel Gil will be subjected to not only a compressive force, but will also be subjected to a lateral force whereby the lifts will be engaged upon opposite sides at two points by the side walls M of the breast plate It and the ends of the lifts which are adjacent the arm 32 will be forced into snug engagement with the inner face of said arm and be frictionally held within the compression chamber.

The rack 2| is then reciprocated in the opposite direction so that other lifts may be assembled on the table and the operation of applying a compressive and a lateral force to the lifts may be repeated.

As shown in Fig. 4, when the heel forms reach the upper end of the compression chamber the compressive force and the lateral pressure are released, whence the uppermost heel is thrown outwardly in an opposite direction to the tilting of the heels in the compression chamber, whence it will be discharged from the spout I 5 in advance of the metal chairs ii. The arm 32 rolls over the curved portion 29 of the spout and is tilted likewise in an opposite direction when released.

By the use of the particular construction of what I term chair, as indicated by the numeral 5?, no nails are required to secure the lifts together because no slippage of the lifts or layers will occur since they are held in place by the depending arm and the wedge plates 25 when the heel forms are forced into the compression chamber.

I claim:---

1. The method of building heels which comprises assembling lifts in heel-form, forcing the assembled lifts through a confined space while subjecting the lifts to a compressive action and a lateral pressure, the lateral pressure depending upon sliding contact at two points on each of the assembled lifts.

2. The method of building heels which comprises assembling lifts in heel-form, forcing the assembled lifts through a confined space while subjecting the lifts to a compressive action with the assembled lifts inclined at an acute angle to the line of travel, and simultaneously applying lateral pressure to the moving assembled lifts, the lateral pressure depending upon sliding contact at two points on each of the assembled lifts. 7

vi c1 3. The method of building heels which comprises assembling lifts in heel form, forcing the assembled lifts through a confined space with the assembled lifts being inclined at an acute angle to the line of travelwhile subjecting the lifts to a compressive force and a lateral force, releasing the assembled lifts from the compressive and lateral forces and rapidly tilting the assembled lifts in an opposite direction at the end of the assembled lifts through a confined space, applying a compressive force and a lateral force to the assembled lifts while supporting the assembled lifts during their travel, so that the assembled lifts will have two points ofsliding contact only during the travel of the lifts in the space, and at the end of the travel of said assembled lifts in the space discontinuing the support and sliding contact and rapidly expelling the assembled lifts.

, 6. In a heelbuilding machine having a heel log container provided with a straight wall, and a plunger for forcing assembled lifts in heel-form through said container, a chair for separating and guiding the heels through the container, said chair comprising a separating plate having a depending arm inclined at an angle from one end of the plate and ears projecting from said end of the plate, the free ends of the ears and arm being sheared off at an angle and engaging the straight wall of the container so that the heels will be inclined at an acute angle to said wall during the travel of said heels through the container.

'7. In a heel building machine having a compressive chamber, a chair for spacing heel-forms of assembled lifts from each other and comprising a wedge-shaped plate, an arm depending from the thicker portion of said plate and forming an abutment against which the lifts are forced, the thicker end of said plate being notched to receive the free end of a preceding arm and providing ears,- the free ends of the ears and arms adapted to ride along one face of said chamber and maintain the adjacent portion of the lifts I out of contact with said face of the chamber while maintaining the assembled lifts at an angle to the face.

8. In a heel-building machine having a compressive chamber, a chair for spacing heel-forms of assembled lifts from each other and comprising a wedge-shaped plate, an arm depending from the thicker portion of said plate and forming an chamber while maintaining the assembled lifts at an angle to the face.

9. In a heel-building machine having a compression chamber, a chair for spacing heel-forms of assembled lifts from each other, and comprising a plate normally tilted at an angle to one face of the chamber, means forming part of the chair and providing an abutment against which the lifts are forced, said means cooperating with the plate to retain the lifts in assembled form and means cooperating with the abutment means for maintaining the ends of the lifts at the abutment out of contact with the face of the chamber, a succeeding plate in the compression chamber and the abutment means on the plate having cooperating means for guiding the chairs in operative position throughout the chamber.

10. In a heel-building machine having a compression chamber, a plurality of chairs for spacing heel-forms of assembled lifts from each other,

' each chair comprising a plate normally tilted at an angle to one face of the chamber, means forming part of the chair and providing an abutment against which the lifts are forced, said means operating with the plate to retain the lifts in assembled form, means cooperating with the abutment means for maintaining the ends of the lifts at the abutment out of contact with the face of the chamber, the abutment means of one chair having a portion projected into the last mentioned means of a succeeding chair for aiding in retaining the chairs in proper alignment in the compression chamber.

11. In a heel-building machine having a compression chamber into which spaced heel forms composed of assembled lifts are to be forced, chairs for spacing the heel-forms, each chair comprising a wedge-shaped plate, an arm depending from the plate, one end of the plate adjacent the arm having a recess to receive the free end of a preceding arm in the chamber, said end of the plate and free end of the arm being sheared off so that said end of the plate and end of the arm will lie flat against one face of the chamber and cooperate with the wedge shape of the plate to compensate for the variation in heights between the front and back portions of the heel-forms.

12. The method of building heels which comprises assembling lifts in heel form, forcing the assembled lifts through a confined space, rigidly confining the heels throughout the full areas of the breasts, tops and bottoms of said heels while subjecting all of the lifts to sliding lateral pressure from two points on each of the lifts.

CHARLES H. COULSON. 

